The Art of Letting Go
by antlercrown
Summary: SasuSaku: Ino and Sakura are the best of friends. As they grow up and change, it just falls apart.


**standard disclaimer applied.  


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**The Art of Letting Go**

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Ino remembers a time, from long ago, when she was just a girl. She remembers the lazy summer days, days, the sandcastles, origami, the games, laying on the grass, drinking lemonade, laughing, the whispers, the sleepovers… everything. Everything she did with _her._ Her best friend. Ino remembers.

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They are seven.

Ino hears her mother holler that Sakura is here and she hears her best friend coming up the stairs. A few quiet knocks on the door before the small pink-haired girl comes in. She spots Ino immediately, quickly walking over to her.

"Hi," She says, smiling brightly.

"Hey Sakura," Ino mutters distractedly.

"What're you doing?" Sakura asks. Her green eyes lock onto what Ino is doing.

Ino stares at herself in the mirror. She has been experimenting with makeup. Her mommy does it all the time and when Ino asked why; she had simply said to make herself look prettier. If anything, Ino wants to be pretty. That's why a few days ago, Ino's mother had purchased her a little kid's set of makeup and now Ino is playing around with it.

"Putting on makeup," Ino replies, smudging some pale pink lipstick onto her lips.

Sakura scrunches up her face as if she is disgusted. Ino turns to her, frowning.

"What? Do I look ugly?" She demands.

Sakura looks at her, fear evident in her eyes for she is afraid she might have angered Ino. The blonde haired girl stares at her, eyes narrowed.

"No," She says quickly, shaking her head. "Not ugly. I just…" She pauses to stare at the scattered makeup over Ino's small countertop. "…don't see the point of it all."

Ino starts to laugh. She wraps an arm around Sakura's small, frail shoulders. Ino kisses her cheek, living a pink mark on her pale skin.

"Someday you will," Ino says, "Like I do now."

Sakura nods, but she doesn't look convinced. Ino ignores the feeling in her stomach.

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They are ten.

Ino is sitting beside her best friend under the shade of the tree. Today, they have decided to come outside and eat their lunches. Sakura has already finished hers and now she is looking at a flower. Ino sips some more of her juice. She glances over at the coral-haired girl.

"What are doing?" Ino asks.

She slightly blushes but shrugs.

"Jeez," Ino says, turning to Sakura, "_Please_ don't tell me you're doing one those _'he loves me, he loves me not'_, are you? C'mon Sakura—we're ten now! Act more mature."

Sakura looks at her. Ino notices the flower is missing a few petals. Maybe she was doing what Ino thought she was.

"No, I wasn't, Ino," She quickly denies.

"Alright."

Ino turns her gaze elsewhere. She twists her body to face Sakura when she hears her yelp.

"Sakura, what—"

Ino stops cold. In front of Sakura is Ami and her other friend whose name escapes the blonde. Ami is holding Sakura's flower, smiling cruelly, while the inferior pink-haired girl is on the verge of tears.

"Playing games are we, Sakura-_chan_?" Ami sneers, her voice sugar-sweet, "What's this for Sakura-chan? Are you playing _'he loves me, he loves me not'_ like Ino-chan said so? Aw, honey, why would Sasuke-kun ever like someone _like you_?"

Ino stands up, growling at Ami. The purple-haired girl smirks at Ino but says nothing. Instead, she turns back to Sakura.

"Look at you," Ami points out, "You're so small and tiny and _weak_. Your eyes are too big and they're such a _weird _colour. Your hair is pink—what a joke. You're so pale! Ever heard of anything called the sun?"

"Go away, Ami," Ino says sternly.

"_Go away, Ami_," Ami mocks, "What's your problem, Yamanaka?" She throws the flower back into Sakura's face and walks away with her friend, both of their hips swaying aggressively.

Ino turns herself to Sakura again. Tears are streaming down the green-eyed girl and she hiccups softly. Ino sighs, brushing some strands of hair away from Sakura's face. Ino places a hand on her hip.

"You can't just keep letting her get to you like that, Sakura," Ino says.

Sakura says nothing.

"C'mon Sakura," Ino says, "We're not seven anymore. We gotta—"

The bubblegum-haired girl stands up abruptly, cutting off Ino's words, the flower discarded on the ground. Her eyes are hard emeralds.

"That's _easy _for you," Sakura snaps, "You're not the one who gets teased _every _other day."

Ino gapes as Sakura walks away. That is when Ino realizes that they are slowly changing.

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They are twelve.

Ino is the prettiest girl in class—even more so than Ami or Karin, everyone says. Her short blonde hair has grown long and silky, her eyes are as blue as the sky, her cheeks are always a pretty peach colour and she has perfect skin. Ino is not the only one who has changed in appearance. Sakura has changed as well. She's still shorter than Ino but her pink hair is long, her viridian eyes dull, and her skin is pale as if she has never seen the sun.

Still, they are the best of friends even though the others don't understand why they are. They are too different, everyone says. But they still have their laughs, eat lunch together, sleepovers, talks over the phone, movie nights, and paint each other's fingers and toes.

"Hey Sakura," Ino says, turning around in her seat because Sakura sits behind her in art class.

Sakura looks up from her thick book.

"Yes?"

"Today I'm going to be eating lunch with Ami and Karin! Are you okay with that?" Ino asks, a bright grin spread over her face.

As much as Sakura wants to say no and wonders why Ino wants to hang out with her former bullies, she cannot find herself to disappointment Ino. So she bites her lip, ignoring the hurt inside her, and musters up a smile.

"Sure," Sakura says.

"Thanks so much!" Ino cries, blowing kisses at her.

Sakura looks back at her book.

Ami is sitting beside Ino and she babbles away about everything—new gossip that's traveling around the school, latest fashions, hot boy celebrities and all that jazz.

Slowly, slowly, slowly—Ino is forgetting about a girl named Sakura.

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They are fourteen and it is their first year in high school.

Ino and Sakura have spent their summers saying their wishes for high school and telling themselves that they will stay true to who they are. They promise that they will be best friends forever.

It has been months since they have both entered high school. Ino is one of the Populars now along with Ami and Karin. Even though she and Sakura don't spend as much time in school as they did in their previous years, they still hang out after school or on weekends. They do movie nights, sleepovers, and shopping together. They are still strong.

Sakura has made a new friend as well. Uchiha Sasuke. The last person Ino would have thought to become Sakura's friend. He is pretty, Ino thinks. He has hair that resembles a crow, mysterious onyx eyes, and pale skin. Ino is happy that Sakura has someone even though Karin and Ami are furious.

Ino sits in the cafeteria, nibbling away at her salad. She chews the edges of her lettuce, staring at Sasuke and Sakura who are eating their greasy pizzas, drinking coke, and laughing away—well Sakura is while Sasuke is just smirking. Ino is glad that Sakura is—

"Ino-chan?" Ami asks, snapping her fingers in front of the blonde's face.

"Yeah?" Ino asks distractedly.

Ami is frowning while she picks up the small packet of salad dressing. Ino looks over at red-haired Karin who is also frowning.

"This can't be good for you. This thing probably has a gazillion calories," Ami says, "You want to be thin right?"

Ino nods because being thin means being pretty.

"Yeah," Karin backs Ami up, "Don't eat it._ Ever_."

They continue to drill into Ino's head how to be thin and how girls don't eat unless they want to be fat and how girls starve themselves to be skinny and how Ino should give up junk food. Slowly, Ino accepts their words and turns them into her actions.

That's when Ino sees fear in Sakura's eyes.

She brushes off Sakura's warnings and tells her it is going to be okay.

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They are sixteen.

Ino is not only the prettiest girl but the thinnest as well. Sometimes she feels like a ghost or a shadow. She feels free but weak. Ami and Karin support her all the way and tell her that she done a beautiful job so far.

Inside, Ino's true self is begging her to stop this.

Sakura is fearful. Ino bets anything she has told Sasuke. He steers her away from Ino. Maybe that is the right thing to do. One side of Ino tells her to go grab Sakura from Sasuke. Sakura belongs to her—_she's my best friend, _Ino tells herself.

Ino is in the girl's washroom. She has just retched in the toilet and now is rinsing her mouth in the sink. Ino stares at herself in the mirror and realizes how she is slowly destroying herself. Sakura is still my best friend, Ino thinks. The tall blonde repeats the useless mantra into her head. She shakily takes out a tube of lip gloss from her makeup bag and spreads it across her dry lips. Ino rubs them together. She is fixing her mascara when the door opens. She looks through the mirror to see who it is.

It is Sakura.

She is beautiful now—her childish features all gone. She is no longer the girl who cries over what bullies say to her and wishes upon a star that Sasuke will like her back because now he does. Sakura is turning into a mature, young lady. Today, her coral coloured tresses are still long and tied into a messy ponytail, her viridian eyes indecipherable, and her skin as pale as the moon.

Sakura's face is emotionless as she stares at Ino.

"Sakura!" Ino shouts.

Ino turns around because she is so glad to see her. She spreads her lips as far as she can into a large grin but it slips when Sakura just looks and looks and looks—would it _kill_ her to give Ino some emotion on her face? Couldn't she smile at Ino like she used to, like she _always_ does to Sasuke?

Ino reaches for her but Sakura backs away. She narrows her eyes.

"What have you done to yourself, Ino?" Sakura asks.

Ino stops. She drops her hand. She turns her gaze to the stall she had just retched in. There are flecks of vomit on the ground. Sakura looks at it before snorting.

"This is stupid," She says.

Sakura leaves the washroom. Ino cries.

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Ino's eyes are swollen as she sits at her usual spot at the Populars' table. She plays with her food. Ami smiles at Ino, wrapping her warm hand around Ino's twig-like wrist.

"Good job, Ino," Ami says, "You've been doing so great."

"Yeah," Karin says, nodding enticingly, sipping her water, "Better than we have."

Ino nods.

In front of their table sits Sasuke and Sakura, as usual. They are eating tacos today and she is laughing at what he is saying. He smiles gently at her—like he does with no one else, _but _her.

"What are you looking at?" Ami asks. She stops when she spots what Ino has been looking at.

"Oh, _them_," Karin says, looking away in disdain. "Why Sasuke-kun picked her is beyond me. Why do you even bother with her? She's not your friend anymore… is she?"

Ami looks at her, looking serious. "She'd better not be."

Ino pulls out from her trance.

"Yeah," Ino mutters, agreeing to what they say like she has loyally done for the past two years.

Her pocket vibrates. Sakura is stuffing her phone back into her pocket without even sparing a glance to Ino. The blonde opens up her phone.

**One New Text Message – UNREAD:**

**From**-_Sakura_**  
To-**_Ino_

**Message**: We need to talk. Meet me after school outside.

Ino texts her reply back but Sakura doesn't even check her phone. She knows that Ino will do anything as she asks now. Ino feels her heart breaking.

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Ino is outside of school. Everyone else is gone.

Sakura appears out of nowhere and walks towards Ino. Her face is devoid of any emotion. She brushes a few strands of her hair out of her heart-shaped face. Ino is now a half-a-head taller than Sakura.

"Hello Ino," Sakura says in an eerily calm voice.

"H—Hi," Ino stammers.

Ino shakes against the cold wind but Sakura doesn't even seem to notice.

"We have to talk," She says.

"About what?" Ino asks.

"Don't play dumb with me, Ino," Sakura chastens, "You know what I'm talking about. We're here to talk about our relationship."

"We're friends," Ino retorts.

Sakura shakes her head.

"No. No, we're not."

Ino's eyes brim with tears, blurring her vision.

"Why?!" Ino croaks.

"Because," Sakura says, "We're not friends anymore, Ino. You stopped hanging out with me and made new friends with Ami and Karin. You moved on with your life and so did I. I made new friends—"

"_Friend_," Ino snarls out of anger.

"Fine," Sakura says, "_One_ friend… but we are no longer best friends. Look at yourself. I don't even know anymore. You dress up like you're going to a party all the time though I don't doubt you do, you always put on too much make-up, you're always with a new boyfriend every week to make-out with, and you throw up all of your food after binging because you're so hungry all the time from _starving _yourself—"

Ino breaks down.

"We're not best friends anymore, Ino," Sakura says, quietly, "Nonetheless…friends."

"Please, _please_," Ino pleads, "Don't do _this_."

Sakura doesn't say anything for a while, her lips pressed into a hard line.

"I have to," Sakura says, "I can't live a lie, Ino. We can't stay kids forever. We've got to grow up and move on. It'll be okay, Ino… you'll see the world, meet new faces, and make new friends. I know it seems like the end right now, but this is just the beginning. You'll be okay…"

"No," Ino protests. "I—I—"

"You'll eventually forget me," Sakura continues, emerald pouring into azure, "And it won't hurt anymore—so…"

_Oh, God,_ how Ino wanted her to stop. For her to stop saying these horrible things and break her heart and she hates _this_—tears stream down her face.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Ino whispers over and over again, hoping it will change something. Hoping it will change her mind, hoping that her best friend will take her back in. Ino pleads to her and when she looks into Sakura's eyes, Ino realizes that Sakura will _not change her mind._

"So this is goodbye," Sakura murmurs.

Ino doesn't know if it hurts Sakura as enough as it hurts her. If she is hurting, she's doing such a great job of not showing it. She walks closer to Ino, wipes away a few tears, and brushes a lock of hair behind Ino's ear. Her small hand is so warm and Ino doesn't want to be so _cold_—

Sakura walks away.

Ino falls to her knees and cries. It starts to rain.

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When Ino arrives home, she is drenched. Her mother is screaming up a storm while her father just shakes her head. She ignores them both, strips of her wet clothing, and takes a hot shower. Ino enters her room, turns off all her lights, and dives under the covers.

She cries until her throat hurts, her lips taste too salty, and her cheeks are sticky.

It is the first of many sleepless nights.

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Ino is seventeen.

She is still one of the Populars even in her senior year. She has a boyfriend whose name is Sai and is the head of the soccer team. Ami and Karin are now Ino's best friends ever since Sakura cut off their bonds. Ino tries to smile and laugh as hard as she can. She tries so hard to be happy like Sakura is but no matter what, there is this hollow feeling in her chest.

Ino says to herself she is the thinnest and prettiest. She tells herself she is _fine_.

Sasuke and Sakura are in a relationship, they say. They are always together smiling or holding hands or hugging each other or giving chaste kisses on the cheeks but Ino knows that there is something more to their relationship. Like the way they stare at each other. Ino's relationship with Sai is mostly just make-out, talk, make-out, use him for eye-candy, listen to him about all the games he's won, and make-out. Ino knows it means nothing unlike Sasuke and Sakura's for they are in love.

In three months, Ino will be graduating and hopefully, she will never see those two ever again.

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It is graduation.

Everyone is in their robes, holding flowers, wearing their graduation caps, and holding certificates. They all sit in their seats listening to Sakura—the valediction—and her speech.

"High school seems like a blur sometimes," She begins, "But we have learned a lot of stuff on the way and we have met new people which we will continue to do through college and our lives—"

What Sakura is saying is probably important but Ino tunes her out. Instead, the blonde stares out the window, wondering how high school could have been different. When she crashes back down to Earth, Sakura is wrapping up.

"—Congratulations! We did it!"

Then they are throwing their caps into the air.

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Ino is twenty-one.

She is in her third year at a modeling school.

But she is miles away from campus now. Instead, she is sitting on a bench in the snow, staring at nothing. She is trying to process what has just happened to her. Her boyfriend of three years, Shikamaru, has just broken up with _her_ and left her in the snow for some other woman. Her breathing hitches, her mouth is dry, and her chest aches. Tears do not fall this time—she has stopped crying a long time ago.

Lifelessly, she just thinks about how much her chest hurts. How miserable she feels. Ino has not felt this way ever since—she stops. Her breathing stills. Painful memories swirl her head.

("This is goodbye.")

_Sakura_, her mind supplies helpfully. She nods numbly. Ino has not felt this way ever since Sakura broke off their relationship. It has been four years since that time yet whenever Ino brings herself to think about it; it rips her across the chest.

Funny, how her boyfriend and her former best friend have said the same thing to her.

Ino stares at her watch. It is two hours until her class starts. She stands up and starts walking towards the bus station. As she is about to cross the street, she scans the busy crowd. That is when Ino notices two people who stand out of the horde of people.

There is a small girl walking among the people. She has long pink hair, bright jade green eyes, and pale skin. _Sakura_, her mind supplies again. She is holding hands with a tall boy beside her. He has black hair with a tinge of blue, indecipherable slate eyes, and pale skin just like her. _Sasuke_, her mind recognizes.

Ino's heart breaks (_one more_) at how happy they look.

Then as she crosses the street and they disappear again—Ino laughs at the irony of it all.

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**a/n: **don't know what to say. I suppose I was inspired because sometimes I feel my friend and I are falling apart...  
I really think I like this piece, though it's quite random.  
Please **review**! Thank you for all your support.


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